


Ace of Cups

by ghosthunter



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M, Magical Realism, weird metaphysical sex and i'm not even sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-07-18 22:04:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16127669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghosthunter/pseuds/ghosthunter
Summary: Jakub knows that Vitek is a witch, and it doesn’t bother him. At least, he doesn’t act like it bothers him, and certainly he’s never said anything. When Vitek arrives to play in Hershey, and he and Jakub move in together, Vitek keeps things from him out of habit. But Jakub thinks - well, he’s always known this about Vitek, that Vitek comes from a family of kitchen and hedge witches.Mostly, Jakub focuses on the way Vitek’s hair looks when he’s sitting on the couch in the morning, sleepily stirring sugar into his coffee, and the way the light makes his shaggy blonde hair even blonder.





	Ace of Cups

**Author's Note:**

  * For [addandsubtract](https://archiveofourown.org/users/addandsubtract/gifts).



> for addandsubtract in the all caps exchange, who asked for some things i couldn't write, and some things i thought i could. these are those things and i hope this is what you wanted and that you enjoy it.
> 
> thanks to everyone who cheerleaded this weird ass shit and to lanie and molly who beta read for me in a time crunch.

When Vitek comes to America, English is still difficult for him. At the very least, Jakub knows that and tries to compensate for it, translating for Vitek when he can. They’re friends, and they’ve been friends for a while. He’s trying to get better, but it’s hard, and he’d rather be playing hockey.

All of the coaches are speaking English to him as well, which is a problem. He wants to be better at it than he is, and tries hard not to let it embarrass him when it takes him a while, or when he just doesn’t get it at all. On the days when it gets really bad, he calls Jakub, hundreds of miles away in Hershey, just to hear someone who can speak his native language who lives in the same time zone.

Jakub has already played a year in Hershey when Vitek comes to the states to play in South Carolina, and he promises it gets easier, hearing nothing but English everywhere you go, and getting used to the non-stop American-ness of it all. At least, Jakub says, Vitek doesn’t have to worry about tailoring his game to the smaller ice in North America.

When Vitek comes to Hershey - and Vitek will come to Hershey, of course, Vitek is amazing at playing goalie, why wouldn’t he come to Hershey and eventually both of them will play for the Capitals - Jakub promises that they’ll live together. He could just be saying it for comfort, but Vitek doesn’t think so.

When he goes to wrap up the call, Jakub always says to him, “Read my cards, tell me what’s going to happen tomorrow.”

“You know it doesn’t work like that,” Vitek tells him, and laughs, every time, stupidly fond of Jakub.

“Tell me anyway,” Jakub says to him.

Vitek is sitting on his bed most of the time when he talks to Jakub, and he picks up the deck of cards off his nightstand, shuffling between his hands while he holds the phone to his ear with his shoulder. He flips three cards onto the duvet in front of him.

“Three of wands, reversed eight of pentacles -” Vitek says.

“Noooo,” Jakub whines at him. “I don’t want anything reversed.”

“All it’s saying is you’re a perfectionist,” Vitek says.

“I’m not,” Jakub says. Vitek snorts. “What’s the three of wands?”

“Probably you’re gonna win a game. Something good is gonna happen,” Vitek says. “It’s all results-related. Wanna guess what the third card is?”

“Ace of cups?” Jakub says. Vitek hums in agreement. “I love you.”

“Love you, too,” Vitek says, and they disconnect the call.

 

Jakub knows that Vitek is a witch, and it doesn’t bother him. At least, he doesn’t act like it bothers him, and certainly he’s never said anything. When Vitek arrives to play in Hershey, and he and Jakub move in together, Vitek keeps things from him out of habit. But Jakub thinks - well, he’s always known this about Vitek, that Vitek comes from a family of kitchen and hedge witches.

Mostly, Jakub focuses on the way Vitek’s hair looks when he’s sitting on the couch in the morning, sleepily stirring sugar into his coffee, and the way the light makes his shaggy blonde hair even blonder. Jakub hardly even notices anymore that Vitek doesn’t use a spoon to create a small whirlpool in his coffee.

The downside of Vitek realizing that he doesn’t have to hide anything anymore is the candles scattered all over their apartment in various states of decay, sigils drawn or scratched into their sides. The other guys think it’s pretty weird, when they come over and see it - a lot of guys have wives or girlfriends who have candles laying around, but they’re in cute jars and not sitting on plates, and they hardly ever have things scratched into them.

He mixes things in their kitchen with herbs that Jakub doesn’t recognize, but appreciates when they have a rough game and Vitek rubs oils or ointments into his skin, soothing his sore muscles. Jakub especially likes that, because it always ends in sex, so not only do all of his aches and pains go away, but he gets orgasms out of it as well.

Jakub knows that Vitek can’t make things happen. He also knows that Vitek can’t actually predict the future. He wants magic to work that way, wants things to happen the way he wants them to happen.

“You can only put your energy into making what you want to happen,” Vitek tells him, one night when they’re lying in bed. They share the apartment and they have separate bedrooms, but neither of them ever sleeps alone.

Vitek’s bed is bigger, because he’ll probably be in Hershey longer. They don’t talk about that much.

“How does that make anything happen,” Jakub asks him. Vitek’s head is rested on Jakub’s chest, Jakub’s finger’s threading slowly through Vitek’s hair. Both of them are half asleep. Vitek traces his fingers over Jakub’s bare skin.

“Energy,” Vitek says. “How do you make anything happen? It’s the same thing. You just focus on the thing that you want.”

“So if I just focus on making the NHL, it’s going to happen,” Jakub says.

“That doesn’t have anything to do with magic,” Vitek says. “That’s all you. That’s just hard work.”

“What if I focus on you making it with me?” Jakub says. Vitek sighs. “If we both put our energy toward it—”

“Not that I don’t want to play in the NHL,” Vitek says. “But I don’t think I’m there. I don’t know. One day.”

“Promise?” Jakub says.

“That’s the plan,” Vitek says.

They doze off together, Jakub’s fingers in Vitek’s hair, Vitek’s fingernails scraping across Jakub’s skin.

In the morning, when Jakub is getting ready to leave the apartment, he notices Vitek left scratch marks on his stomach. It takes him a second to realize that they’re in a shape, and it’s one that he’s seen before. He asks Vitek about it, in the car on the way to the rink.

“Focus,” Vitek says. “So that you get what you want.”

Jakub grabs him by the hand and squeezes tight.

 

The apartment couldn’t feel more empty after Jakub leaves to go to Washington. Vitek knows that it’s a call up, and that it might not last. But it’s Jakub’s first call up, his NHL debut, and Vitek burns his candles down to the tabletop praying for it to go well.

He turns card after card the morning the Caps play the Sabres, and he knows in his heart it’s going to happen. He snaps a picture of his Ace of Cups card, lying on the table in the midst of the spread, and sends it to Jakub.

 _you’re going to score tonight_ , he texts.

 _you think so?_ Jakub texts back.

_i know so_

Jakub does score his first NHL goal that night, and he gets named 3rd star of the game when the Capitals win. He’s tripping all over his words when he calls Vitek on the phone, breathless and excited and, Vitek thinks, a little drunk. 

Vitek is half asleep, exhausted to his bones and tucked under a blanket on the Bears’ bus. He tries to keep his voice low so he doesn’t wake anyone up and doesn’t get yelled at. He feels warm and happy, knowing that Jakub scored his first goal and the Capitals might keep him playing there. It’s bittersweet, because while Vitek wants to be with Jakub, he wants Jakub to have a career in the NHL.

Jakub stays up for all of December before he is sent back to Hershey. They spend Christmas together, Skyping their families over the computer, and at the end of the holiday break, Jakub goes back to Washington.

He gets sent back down on the 1st. It’s not a great start to the new year.

“I thought I was doing well,” Jakub says, frustrated and unhappy sitting on the floor in front of their couch, tucked between Vitek’s knees. Vitek is literally trying to rub the unhappiness out of him, his hands covered in oils. It’s not working.

“You were,” Vitek says. Sure, Jakub hadn’t registered a point in five games, but he’d only played in twelve. Lots of guys didn’t score in games, and Jakub was only a rookie.

Vitek runs his fingers through Jakub’s hair, fingertips massaging his temples and the back of his head. The TV is off, the living room lit by the candles Vitek is burning. He’s not having any luck getting Jakub out of this, but he suspects it’s because Jakub wants to wallow.

“It doesn’t feel like it,” Jakub says. Even his voice is sulky.

“I can’t help you if you don’t want to be helped,” Vitek says. “I can make you stop feeling shitty about this but you have to be open to letting it go.”

“I don’t want to let it go,” Jakub says.

“You asked me to make you feel better,” Vitek says.

“I think maybe I didn’t mean it,” Jakub says. His eyes look big and sad in his baby face when he twists to look up at Vitek. “Can we just. Take a shower and go to bed.”

“If I get in the shower with you are you going to cry?” Vitek asks.

“I’m not promising anything,” Jakub says.

Jakub doesn’t cry in the shower, but Vitek thinks it might be a close thing. He’s quiet, and still, and pliant under Vitek’s hands when Vitek soaps the massage oil out of his hair. When the soap’s gone and the water runs clear, Jakub steps into Vitek’s space, looping his arms around Vitek’s waist. He kisses Vitek soft and slow, with no heat.

Vitek reaches out to turn off the shower, and they stand there for a moment, silent and dripping, before Jakub pulls away, grabbing a towel and drying off. He leaves his towel hanging on the rack and walks naked out of the bathroom and down the hallway to Vitek’s bedroom. Vitek stands in the doorway, ruffling his towel across his hair, watching Jakub go.

He brushes his hair and goes to blow out the candles in the living room and turns out the lights in the rest of the apartment, checking the lock on the front door before joining Jakub in his bedroom.

Jakub is curled up underneath Vitek’s blankets, the lamp on the nightstand lit. Vitek stops to rummage through a box on his dresser. What he’s looking for is a bundle of herbs tied together, which he takes back to the bed, lighting one of the candles sitting there before turning off the lamp. He lights the bundle in the flame, then blows it out until there’s just sweet-smelling smoke filling the room. He waves it vaguely in Jakub’s direction.

Jakub watches him, his blue eyes dark with only the candle for light. “I’m not in the mood for your witch shit,” Jakub says finally. Vitek breathes in, sharp, through his nose. It hurts to hear, even if he knows Jakub is only saying it because he’s in a bad mood.

“Maybe it’s not for you,” Vitek says.

He puts the bundle down on his nightstand and blows out the candle, curling up on his side underneath the blankets, his back to Jakub.

In the morning, Jakub kisses him awake, his nose nuzzling along Vitek’s jaw. Vitek turns into his arms, tangling their legs together.

“I’m sorry,” Jakub whispers to him, his nose pressed to the pulse below Vitek’s ear.

“It’s okay,” Vitek says.

“It’s just hard,” Jakub says. “I know there are going to be ups and downs, and I don’t mean to be shitty about it, it just. Sucks.”

“It’s okay,” Vitek repeats. “Shut up and let me go back to sleep.”

Jakub laughs.

 

Vitek knows that he’s never going to crack the Caps roster with Holtby and Grubauer on it, so he’s not surprised when he gets cut from training camp. He’s not surprised when it happens, and he’s not surprised when Jakub makes the opening night roster either. He’d expected that, with the offseason the Capitals had, Jakub might make it.

He prepared for this.

He has a present for Jakub, if he stays up longer than a month this time, if he gets his letter and gets told to find a place to live, if he’s going to stay up. He’s prepared for this.

He’s not prepared to get hurt and sit out the entire beginning of the season, because sometimes life is bullshit. So he’s alone in his apartment in Pennsylvania and he can’t even play hockey, and it’s fucking great. Super fucking great.

He can work aches and bruises out of other people, but some things take time. He can’t heal broken bones or torn muscles, and even if he wanted to, he’s always been better at doing it for other people than himself.

Jakub still calls him before games and makes him flip cards, almost every night. Vitek teases him, tells Jakub he should just learn to do it himself. He just likes the way Jakub laughs when he says it, when Jakub tells Vitek that Vitek is the only one who’s magical.

The third card is still always the Ace of Cups.

Until Vitek gets back in the lineup and Jakub starts getting scratched, and he starts getting down on himself. Vitek knows that deep down, Jakub’s not mad at him, or upset at him, or any of that. He’s upset with himself for not being able to score, upset with the situation that the team is putting him in when he’s in the press box.

There’s nothing Vitek can do about it, no matter how much energy he puts toward it. He’s always told Jakub that he has to focus himself, he has to work hard, and that’s how things happen. That’s how magic works, sometimes.

Their phone calls get shorter, Jakub gets snippy. Vitek tries not to get snippy in return, but sometimes he can’t help himself. And when he does, they argue.

Vitek doesn’t know what the last straw is. What he does know, is Jakub says to him, “I’m spending Christmas with Bows and Djooser,” and that’s that.

It’s not like Vitek doesn’t have friends or he doesn’t have somewhere he can go for Christmas. It’s just that, well, he thought he’d be spending a couple of days with his boyfriend, and now he’s not, and he gets pissed off every time he sees the presents sitting under the tree with Jakub’s name on them.

And there are a couple of weeks where they don’t speak. Vitek reads for himself, and pulls the Ten of Cups, upside down, and he stops doing that. He doesn’t want to think about it.

Jakub shows up on New Year’s Eve, lets himself into Vitek’s apartment with the key that he still has. The Capitals are off both days, and Vitek is getting ready to head out to a party with some of the other guys. He’s surprised when he comes out of the bathroom after fixing his hair and finds Jakub there.

“I’m sorry,” Jakub says. “I’m so, so sorry.”

Vitek doesn’t want to forgive him that easily, because it still hurts. He got snippy and shitty, too, but he’s not the one who broke their Christmas plans. But Vitek fucking loves Jakub, he has for what feels like a hundred years. Just because they’re fighting doesn’t mean that Vitek has stopped loving him.

“It’s not okay,” Vitek says. “I hate when you take things out on me because you’re upset. Because you need an outlet.”

“I’m sorry,” Jakub says again. “I know, and I’m trying. There’s so much - it’s so much pressure, it’s not at all like it was last season, V, it’s—“

“Jakub,” Vitek says, stopping him. “I just wanted you to remember that I love you whether you’re playing in Washington or in Hershey.”

“I know,” Jakub says. He looks like he might cry, but he doesn’t. “I know that.”

“You have to keep working because you have to be there when I get there,” Vitek says. That makes Jakub crack the smallest smile. Both of them know Vitek might not ever get there, and if he does, it might not be with the Capitals.

“Tell me you forgive me,” Jakub says. “Because I was an asshole when I told you I wasn’t coming here for Christmas. And also I think I really got on Djooser’s nerves by not leaving. And also by being… not so much fun.”

“You were a sulky baby the whole time,” Vitek says.

“I wouldn’t put it that way,” Jakub says. He pouts. Vitek laughs, then leans in and kisses him.

“I’m supposed to go to a party, but if I told them you were here they probably would only chirp me mercilessly and not hold it against me for not showing up,” Vitek explains. “And I could give you your Christmas presents.”

“I didn’t bring yours with me,” Jakub admits.

“Well, there’s always time, unless you decide you wanna be a prick again,” Vitek says.

“Look,” Jakub says. “I was going through a rough time.”

“Fine, but don’t take it out on me, because I love you, asshole,” Vitek says.

“I love you, too,” Jakub says.

They end up not going to the party, opting instead to order pizza and fool around on the couch. It’s been too long since Vitek has come with anyone but his own hand, and it’s over too soon, leaving both of them spent and breathing heavy on the sofa.

Later, Jakub opens his Christmas presents sitting on Vitek’s bed while Vitek eats cold pizza straight from the box. He drops a half eaten slice onto the cardboard and rolls off the bed, heading for his closet.

“There’s one more,” Vitek says, pulling a small package out. It’s wrapped in brown paper, because it was never meant to be a Christmas present. “You can’t laugh at me when you see it, but I know it looks ugly. But I made it this summer, thinking you were going to be staying in the NHL and we’d be apart.”

Vitek climbs back into bed and Jakub rips the packaging off. Inside the little box is a candle, handmade and a little lopsided, the wax streaked and lumpy. The sides are covered with symbols scratched into the wax. Jakub looks up at Vitek and raises an eyebrow.

“Look, it’s supposed to let us dream together,” Vitek says. “So if you have it lit, and you go to sleep, we can. Well. Spend time together. Metaphysically.”

“That’s really fucking weird,” Jakub says, turning it over and over in his hands.

“I knew that I would miss you, and I thought, like, if we had this, it would give us a way to spend time together, even if it wasn’t physically,” Vitek says. “It’s okay if you think it’s stupid. And like I said, I know it’s ugly, but for it to work I had to make it by hand.”

“I love it,” Jakub says, finally looking up. “And I want it to work so badly. I love DC but… it would be better if you were there.”

“I’m gonna give you the best wet dream of your life,” Vitek says.

Jakub laughs so hard he chokes.

 

They don’t get to try it for a while - the Bears are having an absolute disaster of a run, and as a goalie, Vitek feels like he’s responsible for at least half of it. Jakub is going through a dry spell, and even though they talk to each other on the phone a lot, the calls are quiet, filled with mostly listening to the other breathe.

“I wanna try the candle thing,” Jakub says one night. The Caps have lost, the Bears have lost, and Jakub feels wrung out, too tired to have much of a conversation. He’s tired of being lonely - he could go crash at any number of teammates’ places, but it wouldn’t be the same.

He misses Vitek. He feels weirdly fragile about it, about their relationship, because they basically broke up for the month of December. And that was Jakub’s fault, which he knows, and which he feels like shit about.

“Okay,” Vitek says. He already sounds sleepy. Jakub hopes the weird candle thing works. “You just light it when you go to sleep.”

“That’s all I have to do?” Jakub asks.

“That’s all,” Vitek says. “But tell me, because I have to light one too.”

“Okay,” Jakub says.

They hang up the call eventually, and Jakub gets out of bed, going to find the candle where he’s kept it in the box stashed on top of his dresser. It takes him ages to find anything to light it with. He ends up at his kitchen stove, lighting it from the burner. It only makes a little bit of a mess.

He cups his hand around the flame as he walks back to the bedroom and leaves the candle on his nightstand, settling in to go to sleep. His body is exhausted, but he expects to lay there, unable to sleep, the way he has so many of the past few nights. But the candle gives off a sweet, floral scent. Lavender, Jakub thinks, as he dozes off.

He opens his eyes when he feels a hand skim across his stomach, and is surprised to see Vitek in bed next to him, grinning.

“Am I dreaming?” Jakub asks him sleepily.

“Yes,” Vitek says, sliding his hand over Jakub’s chest, tipping Jakub’s head up to kiss him.

“Your magic worked, then,” Jakub says.

“It did,” Vitek says, and presses their mouths together.

It doesn’t feel like Jakub is dreaming when Vitek’s body presses his down into the mattress. Jakub sighs and parts his knees, letting Vitek’s hips slot between his thighs. Vitek is hard and ready and Jakub has missed the feel of Vitek’s skin against his.

Jakub tangles his fingers in Vitek’s hair as they kiss, shifting his hips slightly, rocking them slowly up against Vitek’s. Vitek twists them to their sides, pulls Jakub’s leg up over his hip, and presses slick fingers into Jakub. Jakub doesn’t know where the lube came from. They’re dreaming, and it’s not really happening, so it doesn’t matter.

Vitek fingers him open until Jakub is squirming and begging for it, for Vitek’s cock. Vitek grips him by the hips, hard enough to leave bruises, and he pulls Jakub over until Jakub is straddling his hips. Vitek leaves one hand on Jakub’s hip and wraps the other around his own cock, stroking the head across Jakub, until Jakub whimpers.

“Please,” is all Jakub says, and Vitek laughs underneath him, shifting his hips up slightly until he pushes just the tip into Jakub’s opening. Jakub whines at him, then eases down, all the way until he’s sat on Vitek’s hips.

“Make me come,” Vitek says to him, moving his hands back to rest on Jakub’s hips. Jakub laughs, breathless, and leans forward, pressing his mouth to Vitek’s as he rocks his hips forward, his cock dragging along Vitek’s stomach.

Jakub rides him, doing most of the work for them until he’s panting with his forehead leaned down against Vitek’s shoulder. Vitek pushes at him, urging him to sit up, to sit back.

“I want to see you,” Vitek says. “I want to watch you when you come.”

Jakub pushes himself up, runs a hand over his hair and grins down at Vitek. He works his hips harder, faster, and wraps his hand around his own cock, stroking himself as he rocks himself back onto Vitek’s cock. He closes his eyes, head tipped back, and it only takes him a few strokes before he’s coming, splattering across Vitek’s stomach and chest.

Vitek groans as Jakub squeezes tight around him, digging his fingers into Jakub’s hips as he comes. Jakub leans forward and presses his mouth against Vitek’s, sloppy and breathless. It doesn’t matter that they’re sweaty and sticky.

They curl up together on their sides, arms wrapped tight around each other. Vitek strokes his fingers absently over Jakub’s skin. Jakub knows that the patterns Vitek makes with his fingers that seem so absent have meanings.

Jakub falls asleep wrapped tight in his boyfriend’s arms, and wakes up alone in his own bed, his sheets a mess.

He smiles, and reaches for his phone to text Vitek.

 

The Bears miss the playoffs and Vitek doesn’t get called up as a black ace or as insurance, or whatever Pheonix gets called up for. Vitek feels sulky about it, because he’s never really missed playoffs before, since he’s been playing in North America.

He thinks, maybe he’ll go back home, spend a long summer training. Then, he thinks, fuck that, and packs up a bag and moves himself into Jakub’s apartment.

Watching Jakub’s games is agony. Watching them lose the first two games of the playoffs is miserable. Jakub doesn’t score for the entire first series, and that’s shitty, it makes him cranky, and he never lets Vitek work being upset out of him.

He scores two in the series against Pittsburgh, which is awesome, and he’s so elated when he gets home after the sixth game, even though he’s never played in a playoff game for the Capitals and doesn’t bear the weight of the years of the “DC Sports Curse” that the entire city and the league seems to be talking about.

Vitek only sees good things when he turns the cards, even if Jakub can’t quite believe it. The Caps are playing well, but Jakub isn’t scoring. He’s playing so well, Vitek tells him, breathes every word into his skin, every night, and still Jakub can’t believe it because he’s not scoring.

“It’s going to happen,” Vitek tells him, over the phone from DC while Jakub is in Las Vegas. “Seven of Pentacles.”

“And the Ace of Cups,” Jakub says, his voice quiet.

“Always,” Vitek says.

He’s never been to Vegas before, but he goes for Game Five. He decides almost immediately that he wants to come back on vacation, sometime when there’s not so much on the line. He puts a charm on the chain with the cross that Jakub always wears.

“You’re going to score,” Vitek tells him, before the game. He knows it. He believes it. The same way he knew when Jakub would score his first NHL goal. He can feel it, somewhere in the part of him that knows magic.

Jakub does score.

And the Capitals win.

Suddenly, Vitek’s boyfriend is a Stanley Cup Champion.

Vitek’s on the ice and everything is so loud. He ends up in a crowded multiway hug between Madison and Pheonix and Travis from Hershey who didn’t play in the Finals, and Djoos, who is sweaty and exhausted and seems to be mostly held up by everyone hugging him.

Vitek finally makes his way into Jakub’s arms, gripping the back of his jersey and pulling him close. Jakub buries his neck into Vitek’s, and he makes a sound that is awfully like a sob.

“You’re a Stanley Cup Champion.” Vitek says. Jakub starts laughing, half choked with tears.

“And I scored,” Jakub says. Vitek laughs.

“I told you you would,” Vitek says. “I knew it.”

“I should believe you when you tell me,” Jakub says.

“You should,” Vitek says. “I’m very good.”

Jakub laughs, then takes Vitek’s face between his hands. “I love you,” he says, and kisses Vitek in front of everyone for the first time.


End file.
